a focus on ethical value under the vision of leadership

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Risk and FinancialManagement

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A Focus on Ethical Value under the Vision of Leadership,Teamwork, Effective Communication and Productivity

Víctor Mercader 1 , Esthela Galván-Vela 2 , Rafael Ravina-Ripoll 3 and Cristina Raluca Gh. Popescu 4,5,6,7,*

��

Citation: Mercader, Víctor, Esthela

Galván-Vela, Rafael Ravina-Ripoll,

and Cristina Raluca Gh. Popescu.

2021. A Focus on Ethical Value under

the Vision of Leadership, Teamwork,

Effective Communication and

Productivity. Journal of Risk and

Financial Management 14: 522.

https://doi.org/10.3390/

jrfm14110522

Academic Editor: Khaled Hussainey

Received: 1 September 2021

Accepted: 18 October 2021

Published: 1 November 2021

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1 Graduate School of Business, CETYS Universidad, Av. Cetys Universidad No. 4, Fracc. El Lago,Tijuana C.P. 22210, Baja California, Mexico; [email protected]

2 Center of Excellence in Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship, School of Business and Administration,CETYS Universidad, Av. Cetys Universidad No. 4, Fracc. El Lago, Tijuana C.P. 22210, Baja California, Mexico;[email protected]

3 Department of Business Organization and INDESS, University of Cádiz, 11405 Jerez de la Frontera, Spain;[email protected]

4 Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest,030018 Bucharest, Romania

5 Department of Economics and Economic Policy, Economics I Doctoral School, Faculty of Theoretical andApplied Economics, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania

6 Department of Natural and Technological Hazards, The National Institute for Research and Development inEnvironmental Protection (INCDPM), 060031 Bucharest, Romania

7 The National Research and Development Institute for Gas Turbines COMOTI (INCDT COMOTI),061126 Bucharest, Romania

* Correspondence: [email protected] or [email protected]

Abstract: The new economy and the knowledge-based society brought significant changes in allthe areas of our daily lives. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic and the COVID-19 crisis implicatedtremendous transformations in all the domains, on the one hand, threatening the balance of oursociety and, on the other hand, challenging the dynamic of the new economy development and therhythm of the societal modernization. In these delicate times, the all-important relationship betweenethics, leadership, teamwork, effective communication, productivity, and performance is brought tothe attention, in particular, due to its benefits for our society, taking into consideration the pivotaladvancement that a well governed relationship of this type could provide to the knowledge-basedeconomy. The present research describes the implication of ethics in leadership, teamwork, effectivecommunication, and productivity, which includes the application of ethical values as universitygraduates assume the role of each of the mentioned dimensions of study in the organizations. Theabsence of research that relates ethics to these four elements simultaneously was noticed. Thisinformation is essential to know how these dimensions influence the organizational level. The samplethat included 410 university graduates was applied in Baja California, Mexico, and the industrialnucleus of great relevance, bordering California in the United States of America. The data wasobtained using a questionnaire. A reliability and validity analysis of the measurement instrumentwas carried out in terms of the ethical values associated with the dimensions mentioned using theexploratory factor analysis by the principal components method. Qualitative items were also analyzedusing the constant comparison method. The results obtained in this research provide a greaterperspective and practical knowledge and support of usefulness and practical reality to businesspeopleand employees, leaders and university graduates; and also extensive to students, teachers, and humanbeings in general, in order to be better prepared to give and apply solutions with their consequentethical and productive achievements desired by all. Additionally, this current research has thepurpose to raise the will to understand, at a higher level and at a more in-depth degree of knowledge,the relationship between ethics, leadership, teamwork, effective communication, productivity, andperformance, in the attempt to foster a creative and innovative business environment, based on arobust and sustainable business administration and business competencies, capable to position athigher ranks the strengths, opportunities, aspirations and outcomes that today’s new economy isdue to offer and diminish the dangerous effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the COVID-19 crisisin all the domains.

J. Risk Financial Manag. 2021, 14, 522. https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm14110522 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/jrfm

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5876-0550

https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm14110522



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J. Risk Financial Manag. 2021, 14, 522 2 of 32

Keywords: ethics; leadership; teamwork; effective communication; productivity; performance; busi-ness administration; business environments; business competencies; business counseling; corporategovernance; creativity; economics; effective business communication; effectiveness; entrepreneurialcompetencies; entrepreneurship; environmental protection; knowledge-based society; innovativebusiness models; integrative strategies; intellectual capital; accounting; audit; economic and financialanalysis; economic growth; fiscally responsible businesses; intangible assets; human capital; humanresources management; management; mindfulness; qualitative analysis; quantitative analysis; ques-tionnaire; performance management; public sector; private sector; statistics; statistical correlations;study sample; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); sustainability; empirical analysis; exploratoryanalysis; exploratory factors; Barlett’s sphericity test; Cronbach’s alpha indicator; Kaiser-Meyer Olkin(KMO) test; Likert scale; skewness and kurtosis calculations; Varimax rotation; voluntarist theory;COVID-19 Pandemic

1. Introduction

Ethics is the main axis that makes an actual balance upon the risk of organizations,businesses and enterprises helping to reach beneficial financial consequences, job balanceand wellbeing (Fichter 2018; Popescu 2022a, 2022b, 2022c, 2022d; Sison et al. 2019; Sebestovaand Lejková 2020; Šebestová and Palová 2017). Nevertheless, on the other side, the lackof ethical values application could influence negatively originating people damage, highpenalties and, also, bankruptcy. There are so many cases which were emphasized byreputed specialists throughout the years, that refer to the lack of ethics (Elson and Ingram2018; Straker et al. 2021; Sood and Bhushan 2020) meanwhile Pauly and Hutchison (2005).In addition, in one of his studies, Sarabia (2006) analyzes the great difference of enterprisebehavior, showing critical ethical cases response. This disappointing reality affects thefinancial corporate and organizational world (Figar and Dordevic 2016).

Ethics is a theme that has prevailed throughout history and has been revealed and ex-ternalized in different types of organizations and societies (Seele 2018; Tourigny et al. 2019).Ethics creates effects, either by its application for the common good generating harmony,trust, solidarity and peace or on, its opposite side, by the absence of it, generating harmand damage to the human beings (Amiridis 2018; Nassif et al. 2020; Zhang et al. 2020;Palová and Šebestová 2020; Moreno and Mercader 2021).

Ethics is a broad theme that coexists everywhere in life and in the business and admin-istration, and which proves to be essential in all areas, including leadership (Bauman 2018;Kalshoven and Taylor 2018), teamwork (Alvi et al. 2020; Lyubovnikova et al. 2018), effectivecommunication (Alyammahi et al. 2020; Touhidul and Sorooshian 2019) and productivity(Ebert and Freibichler 2017; Tammany et al. 2019). Therefore, this current research—whichpossesses a high degree of novelty while compared with other studies on similar topics,can be regarded as crucial given its main focus and, also, based on the research gap thatwas successfully identified, namely: the opportunity to describe the implication of ethics inleadership, teamwork, effective communication, and productivity, which includes the ap-plication of ethical values as university graduates assume the role of each of the mentioneddimensions of study in the organizations.

In all areas of performance, human being ethical behavior is a conditioning factorof individual and collective results (Grozdic et al. 2020). In this research, ethics will beapproached from the values associated with this behavior. Then, when the universitygraduates have to undertake a leadership role, manage work teams, communicate effec-tively and perform productive activities in the workplace, they have to make decisions andundertake risks themselves (Fichter 2018). Therefore, these roles might generate crises orharmonious development according to how ethical values are applied (Mercader 2017;Mercader 2019; Mercader 2020; Zhu et al. 2015).

In addition, there is the need to mention, from the very beginning, that ethics, lead-ership, teamwork, effective communication, productivity, and performance, represent


vital assets in all the relationships that are encountered in our society as a whole, offeringgreater power and an increased advantage to the knowledge-based society growth anddevelopment, highly influencing: the business administration, the business environments,the business competencies, the business counseling, the corporate governance, individu-als and businesses creativity, the effective business communication, the entrepreneurialcompetencies and entrepreneurship, the environmental protection, the innovative businessmodels, the integrative strategies, the intellectual capital, the economic growth, the fiscallyresponsible businesses, the intangible assets valuation, the human capital and humanresources management (Elías Zambrano et al. 2021; Jiménez-Marín et al. 2021; Popescu2020a, 2020b, 2020c, 2020d; Ravina-Ripoll et al. 2021). Also, mindfulness brings greatadded values to this complex relationship that is to be encountered while referring toethics, leadership, teamwork, effective communication, productivity, and performance(Foncubierta-Rodríguez et al. 2021; Popescu 2022c, 2022d). Thus, this relationship betweenethics, leadership, teamwork, effective communication, productivity, and performance,may even be considered the very essence of sound and robust business activities, enlargingthe perspectives of several domains, such as: accounting, audit, business administration,economic and financial analysis, economics, management, political sciences, phycology,and sociology (Šebestová and Palová 2017; Sebestova and Lejková 2020; Popescu 2021a,2021b, 2021c).

That is the main reason why the taxonomy of ethical values deducted and developedby Mercader (2006) has served as a base of the relationship of ethics with the four variablesof the study. The applied taxonomy was originally obtained from a pilot study and theanalysis of 28 taxonomies of ethical values from different authors which were resumed to28 ethical more important values. These were summarized to 4 categorizations compound-ing of 7 ethical values each categorization which were Social Behavior values, Growth andImprovement values, Personal Talent values, and Inner or spiritual values.

Ethics as a social phenomenon has been addressed throughout history by thinkerssuch as Weber (1921), Parsons (1951) or Luhmann (2008). The first alluded to ethics from avision-oriented to the limitations of capitalism and from the four pillars of comprehensivesociology: religion, law, economics and politics. For Weber, ethics would represent the cul-tural foundation that shapes the social order. For his part, Parsons evaluated the normativecharacter of social conditions; the voluntarist theory of this author distinguishes a processof internationalization that occurs by cultural means and the process of socialization, whichis part of the personality formed by shared norms. Luhmann, in contrast with Parsons,believes that ethics does not pursue purely normative adequacy for the satisfaction of soci-ety but is an individual reflection of morality that allows statements, judgments, rules andprinciples that govern behavior. That is the reason as example how the interpretation fromdifferent perspectives may create controversies and also gaps according to different criteria.

The academia as well as the researchers and scholars need to be conscious in some wayof the ethical behavior of students and their critical thinking because they will be the futureexecutives and directors of different organizations (Seele 2018). Therefore, the knowledgeon the part of directors and university graduates who work in companies in managerialand critical positions need to mind the dimensions studied. At the same time, they will beof great utility and support to channel and optimize processes and to better anticipate andaccomplish the expected results, contributing with greater sustainability (Nicholson andKurucz 2019) of the companies. The amalgam created with all the mentioned dimensionsand ethics is a significant contribution to management science and practice that includes inthis study the human factor (Bauman 2018; Zhu et al. 2015); at the same time, the resultsobtained are useful for educators and learners at middle and higher levels (Berkovich andEyal 2018) as they come from the data and perceptions of university graduates with activeand current experience who work in the market and highlight their talent in order to meetgoals and collaborate with business and organizational achievements.

This study is justified for the need of application of ethical values and ethical leader-ship (Bachmann 2017; Mihelic et al. 2010; Sharma et al. 2019; Sison et al. 2019) in organiza-


tions and the relationship with teamwork, effective communication and productivity. Thestudy is also of great relevance given that there is no previous research that can analyzeand relate the 28 ethical values of the applied taxonomy or so many values to the fourdimensions of the study that happen to be of high priority in companies. The expectationof achievement of the research is of great utility and support for companies, institutionsor organizations of all kinds since ethics through the application of ethical values tendsto give more advantages and benefits through the enunciated dimensions. In addition,excellent achievements of individual and collective objectives are rooted in ethical values.Moreover, the influence of ethics is implicit in the results and consequences generated insuch a way to be able to create common benefit and better welfare both internally andexternally at all levels (Fatien-Diochon et al. 2018; Giacalone and Jurkiewicz 2003).

Hence, depending on the perception and performance of ethics of university gradu-ates in their different workplaces and lives, the product and service trend originated bytheir individual, team or company performance generates significant results and changes(Mo et al. 2019). Additionally, understanding the existing relationship of the dimensionswith each other and with ethics generates a tremendous and much more significant advan-tage by joining the knowledge of new dimensions’ indicators, which can establish primarybases for companies.

It is because of the above that the research objective of the present research is: “Todescribe the implication of ethics in the dimensions of leadership, teamwork, effectivecommunication and productivity and to determine the validity and reliability in themeasurement of the different ethical values manifested in the four dimensions mentioned;as well as the correlations and dimensions associated with ethical values when thesebehaviors and acts are presented according to university graduates”.

The fact that the instrument applied in the research has been carried out with a samplemade up of university graduates who work in different organizations or companies in aregion that has a significant industrial focus in the state of Baja California, Mexico, givesexcellent value to the study given their experience and as experts in the situations that arepresented to them daily in the work environment.

This article consists of several sections: Firstly, it briefly clarifies the state of the cur-rently existing literature on ethics, leadership, teamwork, effective communication andproductivity, in order to support the existing body of knowledge, as well as the devel-opment of new theoretical perspectives that relate the influence of specific ethical valueswhen an individual assumes a role in the dimensions above. Secondly, the methodologyimplemented during the research is described, which consisted of a qualitative and quanti-tative analysis based on a questionnaire according to Mercader’s taxonomy (2006, 2017)which was adapted to the conditions of the study sample (see Appendix A. Structure ofthe questionnaire used in this research). Thirdly, the analysis of the results was developedusing basic descriptive statistics. The validity and reliability of this research data wereevaluated. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the compositionof the factors of ethical values associated with each behavior. Finally, it is concluded therelevance, validity and reliability in the use of the measurement instrument used and theexistence of a necessary implication of ethical values while assuming leadership behavior,teamwork, effective communication, and productivity.

2. Literature Review

Ethics and the dimensions of leadership, teamwork, effective communication, andproductivity have been sources of research in many different ways. However, the symbiosisand relationship of these as a solid and necessary set has not yet been carried out promptly,hence the importance of this study and corresponding analysis: the following analyses theinfluence and theoretical basis of the four dimensions and ethics and their relationship.

Apparently, one could say that the relevance of the dimensions of leadership, team-work, effective communication and productivity in organizations, as well as their relation-ship, seems obvious; however, they continue to be an Achilles heel because ethical values


are not always applied in the best way. Hence, in this research the analysis of the ethicalvalues that make up the four categories of the taxonomy used (Mercader 2006) and theirrelationship with the dimensions of study is of extraordinary relevance and necessity inorder to improve business performance and reduce the risk of failure. To demonstratethis theoretically, we will analyze the relationship and the results from different authorsdimension by dimension and then empirically by applying the designed instrument to asample of 410 graduate university students.

The following is a very brief explanation of what the authors assume with greatercriteria and emphasis in this study, the concepts of:

Ethics: The positive intangible energy applicable through ethical values in all life andwork and/or business situations, generating the greatest common benefit and achievingproductive, useful and happy balance.

Leadership: The art of achieving established business and individual achievementsin cooperation with people and teams, applying the necessary knowledge and ethicalstrategies in a way that benefits the business, individual and social environment.

Teamwork: The ability to engage in the necessary actions to be carried out with agroup or groups of people to reach the established goal with the least risk and the highestreturn in terms of time, cost and quality, feeling satisfaction, commitment and pride inbelonging to the team.

Effective communication: The ability to be able to understand and make ourselvesunderstood in any environment and situation that presents itself in such a way as toresolve in an effective way and where the fact of winning-win for the parties involved ismanifested.

Productivity: The power to obtain effectiveness in the processes required for theachievement of goals, whether products or services, assertively managing the factors ofquality, cost, quantity, time, location, among others,

When observing these concepts, it can be seen how all the study dimensions are inter-related in order to mutually help each other to achieve the common ethical achievement.

2.1. Ethics

Ethics, as it has been pointed out from the introduction, is closely related to theelements studied. The field of business ethics is very extended and important and that iswhy there are so many aspects to be discovered. It is appreciated as Bauman (2018) focuseson the four cardinal virtues, prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, feasible to beapplied even today in the corporate and business world and the behavior of different typesof leaders, while Amiridis (2018) focuses his research on ethical leadership for reconciliationand harmony in business based on moral categories and their boundaries between possibleambiguous or opposite behaviors, which is also analyzed by Ciulla (2018) who consider itdifficult as it requires self-control of self, ego and power and its use in having it. That iswhy it is convenient to find and contrast the relationship between the spirituality of theindividual with the perception of unethical activities in specific organizations as Giacaloneand Jurkiewicz (2003) already since the beginning of this century indicate, pointing outdifferent identifying values of spiritual individuals where ethics is essential. Hence, itis necessary to generate an effective and understanding relationship between leadersand followers that can generate synergy capable of nurturing collaboration and mutualsupport (Munro and Thanem 2017); when that affection and understanding increases, therelationship with others makes serendipity appear that goes beyond prediction and makesprocesses and solutions flow better (Fatien-Diochon et al. 2018).

2.2. Leadership

Kalshoven and Taylor (2018) analyze the intersection of ethics and leadership under aqualitative analysis showing the philosophical perspectives in multiple published discus-sions of such relationships. Important variables arise with another perspective, which isstudied by Lips-Wiersma et al. (2020), such as responsible leadership, equity-justice and


dignified work, which characterize ethical practices generating win-win scenarios, whichis what is expected in organizations and companies when they want to solve opposingtendencies or conflicts; this is how it is convenient to analyze the effects created, andtherefore Kim et al. are mentioned, (Kim et al. 2018) who focus on those generated by per-ceived ethics, compassionate leadership and buffering strategic communication, in this case,applied to the pervasive feeling of anti-government, which uncovers under-researchedareas as a whole, where ethics in governments is fundamental. There are then contraryor confusing interpretations when identifying ethics in leadership. It is often decided ona tightrope between corruption or necessity. As Machiavelli deduced, it was the leastharmful and varied according to human conduct and dilemmas of conscience and theirconsequences (Cosans and Reina 2018). Hence, transformational solutions are requiredin different institutions that include the logic of conflicts with ethical components. Theyconsider four types of solutions: synthesis, decomposition, replacement, and combustion(Nielsen and Lockwood 2018). It remains to ratify that applying ethics-based leadershipbecomes a necessity in teams and organizations as it creates a challenge to status threatand promotes healthier behaviors with higher performance, loyalty, and mutual trust(Zhang et al. 2020); similarly, Schuh et al. (2019) introduces the “mindfulness leader” asa mediator originating a linkage model with procedural justice leader’s performance to-wards reducing employee’s emotional exhaustion and thus, improving their performance;with this mindset, Seele (2018) focuses on the importance of critical thinking as a leader’scommon denominator to be applied in ethical companies. In itself, the effort of leadersfor achievement must be in congruence with the behavior and ethics of the same, whichhas an impact on work teams and especially when situations such as external negativeinfluences, critical deadlines or completion and tasks with the interdependence of teamsarise (Zhou et al. 2019).

In short, the idea is to be able to exercise ethical leadership applicable to companies,which is known as business ethics and on which there is a wide range of research, especiallysince the beginning of the century and millennium. Now, ethical leadership integratesa series of emerging types of leadership, with different names, but with ethical roots astheir essence and with mutual affinity. These are authentic leadership (Semedo et al. 2019);spiritual or virtuous leadership (Pio and Tampi 2018; Smith et al. 2018); shared leadership(Choi et al. 2017; Zhu et al. 2018); affective or care leadership (Maggeni 2021); integra-tive leader-ship (Zhang et al. 2018); inspirational leadership (Salas-Vallina et al. 2020;Murnieks et al. 2016); charismatic leadership (Graboa et al. 2017; Jamal and Bakar 2017).All of the above leadership types are of a positive tendency and are linked directly orindirectly to the dimensions under study. They always, in one way or another, requireteamwork, effective communication and productivity.

2.3. Teamwork

Teamwork is essential in every organization, and at the same time, every organizationrequires effective and ethical leadership in order to be sustainable; now, if this is coupledwith the team working without significant flaws, creatively and with mutual trust, theresults tend to be better and demonstrate a more significant relationship (Mo et al. 2019).Hence Chen et al. (2019) connect team cohesion with paternalistic leadership and organiza-tional commitment and consider benevolent and moral leadership necessary in companiesfor better teams’ results. It is how according to Rego et al. (2018), when analyzing theeffectiveness of teams, they conclude the need for authentic leaders. They must be awareof the knowledge applied with humility; on the contrary, when finding abusive supervi-sors, the spirit of innovation decreases in team members just as it generates a negativeimpact on organizations (Rousseau and Aubé 2018). Thus, Tu et al. (2019) emphasizethe relationship of ethical leadership with the levels of creativity of work teams and theclimate of psychological safety. It is that pro-social motivation about the organizationalculture and behavior of the employee or citizen and the teams that they respond assumingethical leadership into mutual welfare outcomes (Arshad et al. 2020). Thus, individual


performance and satisfaction with the work team are analyzed by von Bieberstein et al.(2020) in combination with variables such as social preferences, skills, individual prepa-ration and team communication and dialogue. Thus, the concern arises when throughknowledgeable colleagues the level of effort, productivity, motivation and performance ofteams are evaluated. Then, results frequently show more significant effort, lower levels ofproductivity and motivation and no evidence of having exceeded the performance, whichdoes not show the expected benefits (Tavoletti et al. 2019).

On the other hand, new methods of teamwork emerge with factors that seek changeand are more adaptable, finding teams with different reactions, interpretations and be-haviors (Kerrissey et al. 2020). For Alvi et al. (2020), what is fundamental for teams isthe satisfaction they feel, the training and learning on the job, the empowerment andthe rewards received. Among the factors that influence employees and work teams,Sailer et al. (2021) address one that has not been analyzed very much; it is the place andspaces of work and the distribution of offices or desks that have been highlighted, whereaccess to colleagues, cohesion, the distribution of information, the perception of produc-tivity, the state of concentration and others are involved. In a curious and different way,Askari et al. (2020) apply a method with measurements in a cooperative game’s frameworkfor individual employees and in teams where they consider indicators and tabulate themmathematically increasing performance and satisfaction, concluding that collaboration is afactor of increased productivity and better effectiveness of the company.

New concepts are developed as the so-called ambidextrous leadership that drives learn-ing and innovation in work teams depending on the behavior of leaders (Duc et al. 2020).A little-studied aspect that should not be left out when analyzing productivity in organi-zations is the diversity and influence of gender when it comes to top management andleadership positions in teams (Luanglath et al. 2019), and which is considered to be linkedto the perception of ethics and culture of the place of study. In summary, what is fundamen-tal is the satisfaction felt when working in teams as this will enhance team performance.However, in the study by Haarhaus (2018), there was no evidence that social interactionalways generates agreements and job satisfaction in teams while Marquardt et al. (2021)emphasizes that team performance and achievement is a function of learning and develop-ment of its members, which includes ethical conduct and thus, avoiding work mistakes,setting clear objectives and providing direction or guidance to them.

The important thing is to obtain, know and apply the variables, indicators and factorsthat have an impact on work teams from the different authors analyzed and others thatenrich the results and satisfy employees and companies.

2.4. Effective Communication

It is penetrating organizational communication, Wattanapanit (2019) focuses andapplies it vertically, horizontally and diagonally in its influence on the effectiveness of workteams in an analysis that considers three dimensions, namely, the accomplishment of tasksto be performed, the satisfaction of team members and the intention to continue in the sameteams. It is also about the form and content of team members’ voices which influences andeven impacts the processes and outcomes of team performance, safety and productivity(Li et al. 2017). This topic, nowadays, in congruence with applied ethics has become, totallyusual and necessary through digital communication where it is relevant to how we feelin well-being, in its use and relation to our ethical awareness (Burr et al. 2020); if so, italways requires a collaborative dialogue and shared, and well-distributed action amongteam members applying the benefits and positive effects of emotional intelligence, in thisfield, Cole et al. (2018) introduces the SOAR variables (Strengths-Strengths, Opportunities,Aspirations and Outcomes).

Effective communication is required in all types of businesses and today more thanever with the help of technology and media (Touhidul and Sorooshian 2019). According toAlyammahi et al. (2020) communication is the fundamental tool in the workplace, hencethe need for its effectiveness and balance in order to increase productivity with better


decision making within an ethical culture consciously applied in everyday work. However,communication becomes a risk factor as Rahman and Adeleke (2018) show a strong positiverelationship between construction risk management and effective communication. Theserisks can become illegal as shown in the study by Meral (2020) where he analyses thesources and processes of financial crime and money laundering where the informationprovided becomes disguised and of dubious origin. Effective communication can bufferthe negative realities of the business world when it establishes higher quality relationshipswith trust and credibility and greater and effective collaboration of work teams; hence,assertive and ethical performance can reduce the barriers to effective communication(Ejohwomu et al. 2017). Winton et al. (2021) focus on the relationship between effectivecommunication processes and the organizational culture of companies, which includesvalues, attitudes and beliefs that can sometimes lead to misinterpretations, delays, conflictsand disputes with reward systems. Similarly, Idowu and Abolade (2018) confirm intheir paper that effective communication and rewards have a positive effect on employeeengagement leading to humane treatment and recognition of the employee. From differentperspectives, effective communication has emerged as an essential dimension in its roleas a connector linked to leadership, teamwork and productivity that when applied withethical values generates better results and greater business well-being.

2.5. Productivity

Productivity depends on the work teams and the leaders, directors and managersthat make up the company and the knowledge that each of its members applies to theirlevel of self-demand and competitiveness based on the assumed and ethical behavior(Ebert and Freibichler 2017). It is, therefore, relevant to quote Lyubovnikova et al. (2018),who focus on work teams in their training and organizational support as study variablesfinding a relationship with productivity and innovation. Focusing on team productivity isalways fruitful and depends on giving social support, effective in constructive controversy(Chen et al. 2017).

It is important to emphasize that, for more than a decade, the issue of productivitybased on ethics has been in force and Valentine et al. (2011) highlight the increase inproductivity and job satisfaction to the extent that there is a daily practice of corporateand personal values in organizations. If proactive strategies congruent with corporateethics are established, a symbiosis will be created that will increase business productivity(Elms et al. 2010). Hence, Elango et al. (2010) define the indicator of ethical intentionin order to increase ethical behavior and action adapted to everyday life. On the otherhand, competition and rivalries between companies tend to weaken noble ideologies andturn to bad practices due to social and economic pressure and moral emotions, all ofwhich need to be avoided (Kilduff et al. 2016; Lindebaum et al. 2017). However, thesenegative situations can be cushioned when educating for personal and business integritythat progressively accumulates positive attitudes and reactions that are nurtured by ethicalvalues such as fairness, consistency and the conviction of the benefit of acting ethically(Bosch and Cavalotti 2016; Snellman 2015). In addition, various productivity factors andthe risks of investment versus economic return need to be analyzed, as not everything thatis carried out with great effort and dedication is profitable (Arulraj and Annamalai 2020;Schweikl and Obermaier 2020) in the latter article related to IT projects analyzing the SolowParadox, which may tempt entrepreneurs to make unethical decisions. The continuouschallenge of increasing productivity often neglects the relevance of the human and ethicalfactor, focusing mostly on economic profit and survival (Gandy and Mulhearn 2021; Guoand Clougherty 2020; Rashid et al. 2020).

It is appropriate to comment on how Di Pietrantonio et al. (2019) through the applica-tion of a model designed to assign tasks to work for teams demonstrate as a conclusionthe importance of motivation and skills and, thus, achieve increased productivity. At thesame time, it is worth mentioning the model developed by Dürr et al. (2020), where theyanalyze teamwork in terms of optimal team size and the provision of incentives in an


environment of uncertain productivity considering the synergy of the teams. An essentialpoint in every firm and extensive to clusters and regions related to productivity is thefactor income versus unequal earnings, which were analyzed and are given as an exampleby Espoir and Ngepah (2020), where the relationship is harmful as a direct effect andpositive as an indirect effect. On the other hand, other variables can be analyzed by relatingindividual productivity with teamwork as Flores-Szwagrzak and Treibich (2020) do byapplying a method they call ComScore in specific situations or problems, analyzing thesuccess achieved by the analyzed teams. It also appears to know if productivity improveswhen using self-organizing teams, which Parker et al. (2015) studied in three differentlevels, which will also depend on the leadership style applied.

2.6. Synthesis of the Literature Review and Representative Tables

According to renown researchers, ethics represents a key trigger for responsiblebusiness conduct (RBC), enhancing the need for supporting corporate social responsibility(CSR)—probably the most important point on the agenda of all prominent figures at aninternational level, and brings great added value at the level of organizations, being anintegrated component of successful managerial strategies (Francis and Armstrong 2003).In addition, according to studies, the organizational ethical standards have the immensepower to display the entities’ organizational commitment towards the society, at a generallevel, as well as the entities’ will to be part of a visionary strategies and act in the spiritof correct, sustainable and transparent forms of behavior (Fritz et al. 1999). In addition,genuine awareness with regard to employees, clients, shareholders, and communities,is insistently sought these days when conducting all types of business activities andoperations, thus illustrating organizations adherence to ethical standards and managerialcompliance with those particular standards (European Commission 2019).

Moreover, it seems that the knowledge-based society has determined organizations tobecome more aware of the positive implications and clear benefits of a “healthy” businessenvironment, in which the “robust and strong” business relationships should be governedmainly by trust—believed to enhance long-term satisfaction, expected to ensure consis-tent economic and social benefits, and presumed to bring long-lasting marketing successunprecedented strong economic outcomes (Grant 1996; Geyskens et al. 1998).

As a result of the literature analysis on the topic under study, the different authors’assumption of indicators has emerged. From there, the categorizations that have emergedwith greater congruence according to the variables have been formed. Table 1 shows thesynthesis of all the categorizations obtained for each dimension of the study.

Table 1. Ethical values and Indicators applied empirically in the instrument to evaluate the perception of the behavior ofethical values of the university graduates of the sample when performing in the role of leadership, teamwork, effectivecommunication and productivity.

Social Behavior Values Values of Growth andImprovement Personal Talent Values Inner or Spiritual Values

Honesty Vision/Objectivity Courage PatienceRespect Communication Enthusiasm Tolerance

Responsibility Knowledge/Learning Spirit of service HumilityIntegrity Self-motivation Perseverance/Hardworking Appreciation/Gratitude

Equity/Justice Decision making Generosity UnderstandingFriendship/Union Compliance/Diligence Creativity Love

Kindness/Attention Self-discipline/Temperance Good mood Compassion/Forgiveness

There are resulting categorizations that coincide in more than one of the dimensions.Therefore, it is essential to point out that the categorization of “application of values”appears in the four dimensions and, of course, in ethics. That of “leadership” in ethics andthe three dimensions, since there is no such category as such in leadership, but there aretypes of leadership. The categorizations of “teamwork” and “productivity” also appear


in dimensions other than their own; on the other hand, importance should be given todecision-making and conflict management, which share two dimensions. By observing thedifferent categorizations developed, the interrelation and interdependence between themand the dimensions can be seen, which helps to reflect on their presence and importance inbusiness processes in combination with ethics.

Below are the values and indicators that were used from the taxonomy of Mercader (2006)in the validated instrument to determine the behavior of the university graduates wheninvolved in the dimensions of study. The taxonomy brings together a total of 28 valuescontained in four categories, namely: values of social behavior, growth and improvement,personal talent and internal or spiritual values, each with seven values (see Table 1. Ethicalvalues and Indicators applied empirically in the instrument to evaluate the perception ofthe behavior of ethical values of the university graduates of the sample when performing inthe role of leadership, teamwork, effective communication and productivity) (INEGI 2015).

As a synthesis of the literature review, it can be concluded, as raised by numerousauthors and researchers and more every day, that ethics is necessary and beneficial tohuman beings and all types of organizations, both for-profit and non-profit (Amiridis 2018;Seele 2018; Nassif et al. 2020; Zhang et al. 2020; Cuesta-Valiño et al. 2021) and these arejoined by the reflective reasoning of Ciulla (2018) that makes one think that people at alllevels are sometimes tempted in society to be unethical and take advantage of situationsthat generate economic or material advantages, even creating harm to other people ororganizations, which translates into a latent difficulty to be solved in order to maintainthe balanced achievement of the application of ethics in life and at work. Therefore,there is a continuous challenge of self-conviction to become forgers of ethical conduct atthe individual and company level (Bauman 2018; Cosans and Reina 2018) that alwaysbecomes, at the beginning of the end, in integral overcoming with greater internal freedom,prosperity and happiness.

3. Materials and Methods

The present study followed a mixed research approach, which employs the analysis ofnumerical data and qualities under the premise that the integration of both elements allowsfor the production of more excellent knowledge than either of the individual techniques(Åkerblad et al. 2020). In this sense, a series of processes were carried out that began withthe systematic review of literature related to the elements of this study: ethics, leadership,teamwork, effective communication, and productivity.

From this literature review, theoretical categorizations were created based on theconceptual notions of the terms. For the study of the implications of ethics in each of theother variables, the 28 ethical values proposed by Mercader (2006, 2017) were used andcategorized according to their concepts in different families, such as social behavior values,values of growth and improvement, personal talent values and inner or spiritual values,the values that make up each family were presented in Table 1.

A questionnaire was then conducted with demographic items, multiple-choice ques-tions, and open-ended questions based on this procedure. The demographic questionsincluded gender, age, nationality, profession, and level of academic studies. Amongthe multiple-choice questions were four questions that sought to answer. At what leveldoes it typically behave based on different ethical values when performing in a leader-ship/teamwork/effective communication/productivity role? According to the taxonomyabove, responses indicated up to 28 ethical values associated with each role to be rated ona 10-point Likert scale.

Initially, a statistical sample of 384 observations was intended, considering a marginof sampling error of 5% for an undefined population; however, 410 valid observationswere collected, which reduced the initially planned margin of sampling error to 4.8%.The research subjects were university graduates (undergraduate or graduate) who workindependently or for organizations related to their profession and who reside in the state


of Baja California, Mexico, who was chosen in a non-probabilistic and accidental manner(see Table 2. Methodology, sample data).

Table 2. Methodological data of the sample.

Population Sample Type of Sample Application Medium Reliability Error

Indefinite 410 Non-probabilistic Digital platform 95.20% 4.80%

The reason for choosing this form of sampling was the availability of the subjectsat the time of sending the questionnaires via email; however, to verify the non-existenceof common variance bias, due to the type of sampling used and the psychometric prop-erties of the data, the Harman test was performed (Podsakoff et al. 2003), to check if theresulting matrix of items was not affected by the bias above, so all items were includedin factor analysis and through the principal components method, without rotation andforcing a single factor, the percentage of common variance was obtained. According toPodsakoff et al. (2003), there will be a problem of common variance when the single factorextracted exceeds 50%; by obtaining 43%, it was assumed that the data were not affectedby the type of sampling.

Among other data analysis techniques, basic descriptive statistics, such as means orfrequencies, were used to analyze the demographic questions. The normality conditions inthe sample data were also tested using skewness and kurtosis calculations. Later, the relia-bility and validity in measuring the different ethical values applied in the four constructswere analyzed. In order to determine the reliability of the instrument, the Cronbach’s alphaindicator has been used to determine the degree to which the instrument produces consis-tent and coherent results when it presents values above 0.700 (Lavrakas 2008). To verifythe validity of the constructs, that is, that the instrument measured what it was intended tomeasure, the exploratory factor analysis was used by the principal components method.

Exploratory factor analysis is one of the most common multivariate analysis techniquesapplied to a set of variables. The researcher needs to determine the variables that can formlogical subsets that are relatively independent of each other (Shrestha 2021). This techniquehas had a growing interest since the 1990s in all areas of research, especially in the socialsciences, as it allows the assessment of latent variables, i.e., those that are measured by aset of items, so this test represents an entirely appropriate technique for the analysis ofcomplex and multidimensional relationship patterns addressed by scholars in the area ofmanagement sciences.

It should be noted that the principal components method was chosen because itconsiders the totality of the variance by estimating the factors that contain low proportionsof the unique variance. In contrast, the standard factor analysis only highlights the factorsbased on the common variance (Mejía Gómez 2017). In addition, the Varimax method wasused because it focuses on maximizing the structural differences of the coefficients of eachfactor extracted by the principal components method and because it is highly used in socialsciences (Shrestha 2021).

Among the tests used for the principal component analysis with Varimax rotationfor each of the variables in this study, the Kaiser-Meyer Olkin (KMO) test was considered,which measures the adequacy of the correlation by producing a value between zero and onewhere values greater than 0.600 mean that the factor analysis of the variables is appropriate(Crane et al. 1991). Among other tests, Barlett’s sphericity test was performed, which, beingsignificant as p < 0.05, shows that the resulting matrix is not identity and demonstratesthe prior existence of unbiased and unequivocal correlations (Pizarro and Martínez 2020).Another evaluated indicator was the χ2 statistic with p (p − 1)/2 degrees of freedom,which must be significant at p < 0.05 to assume the existence of correlated values. Thecorrelations that express to what extent two variables are linearly related were evaluated bythe correlation matrix, which should indicate values between −1.0 and 1.0, where valuesclose to both extremes indicate a more robust association (Shrestha 2021).


4. Results

The results of this research were obtained once the data were processed in the SPSSv.24 programs. First, the descriptive data of the population were analyzed. Then, theessential questions were analyzed where it was asked “At what level does he typicallybehave based on the following variables related to ethics when performing in leadership,teamwork, effective communication and productivity?” and the 28 ethical values of Mer-cader’s taxonomy (2006, 2017) were exposed to be evaluated on a 10-point Likert scale.Following the above, factor analysis tests were performed by principal components of eachvariable: leadership, teamwork, effective communication, and productivity. The procedureis detailed below.

4.1. Analysis of Demographic Variables

The responses obtained, a product of the research, have been combined with thegender to find similarities and differences, especially in the demographic variables andresponses (see Table 3. Gender and age of sample participants combined). The sample wascomposed of 410 university graduates, of which 176 participants were female (42.93%), and234 were male (57.07%). These figures indicate that there is gender diversity in the samplesthat were examined. The age of the participants in the sample has been combined withgender, showing the results in Table 4, which indicates that the majority of participantsare Generation Y or millennials with ages 26–30 years 23.66% and 31–35 years 20.24%(see Table 4. Level of studies of the sample participants combined with gender). Youngeruniversity graduates with less work experience between 21 and 25 represented 18.78%,while those between 36 and 40 obtained 14.63%. It is essential to point out that adding theages between 21 and 40 gives us the reality of the university graduates in full developmentin the different jobs, representing 77.32%.

Table 3. Gender and age of sample participants combined.

Gender and Age ofParticipants

Age Range Female Female % Male Male % Total Total %

21 to 25 years old 41 10.00% 36 8.78% 77 18.78%26 to 30 years old 45 10.98% 52 12.68% 97 23.66%31 to 35 years old 38 9.27% 45 10.98% 83 20.24%36 to 40 years old 21 5.12% 39 9.51% 60 14.63%41 to 45 years old 16 3.90% 21 5.12% 37 9.02%46 to 50 years old 11 2.68% 26 6.34% 37 9.02%51 to 55 years old 3 0.73% 9 2.20% 12 2.93%56 to 60 years old 1 0.24% 2 0.49% 3 0.73%61 to 65 years old 0 0.00% 3 0.73% 3 0.73%66 to 70 years old 0 0.00% 1 0.24% 1 0.24%

Total 176 42.93% 234 57.07% 410 100.00%

Table 4. Level of studies of the sample participants combined with gender.

Participants’ Levelof Education

Level of Education Female Female % Male Male % Total Total %

PhD 2 0.49% 1 0.24% 3 0.73%Master 36 8.78% 45 10.98% 81 19.76%

University degree 138 33.66% 188 45.85% 326 79.51%Total 176 42.93% 234 57.07% 410 100.00%

No response 0 - 0 - 0 -Total entries 176 - 234 - 410 -

The nationality of the participants indicates that 95.61% of the sample is of Mexicannationality, 3.41% are Americans, and the rest (0.97%) are two Koreans and one Venezuelanand one Colombian. On the other hand, when referring to the profession of the participants,24 different professions emerged, the largest profession in the sample being engineers


(30.23%), including industrial engineers (13.41%), which are explained by the fact that thisis the most common specialization in the geographical area where the instrument wasapplied. Administrators made up 13.66%, followed by accountants (10.49%), internationalbusiness (4.63%) and marketing specialists (3.66%), so areas related to administration andbusiness score 32.44%. When adding engineers and administrative sciences, 62.67% ofthe sample is obtained. Other professions to mention are computer scientists (5.12%),psychologists (4.15%), doctors (2.68%) and others (25.38%). Another relevant demographicaspect is linked to the academic degree of the participants in the sample since it variesaccording to whether they only have a university degree in any career or whether theyadditionally have a master’s or doctorate.

These answers conclude the cycle of the demographic variables analyzed to continuewith the essential questions, the object of the research and its corresponding statistics.

4.2. Essential Variables of the Empirical Study and Factor Analysis

Fundamental to this study is analyzing the results obtained from the answers ac-cording to the participant’s perception of the sample to the question. At what level doeshe typically behave based on the following variables related to ethics when performingin leadership, teamwork, effective communication and productivity? The participantsnumerically rated each of the 28 ethical values and variables (presented in Table 2) of thetaxonomy of the instrument from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest value. With theseresults, we proceeded to examine and develop the statistical methods shown below inTable 5.

Table 5. Preliminary factorial results of ethical values in leadership.

Indicator Value Interpretation

KMO 0.964 Sampling adequacyχ2 8010.695 Rejection of H0, correlation testGl. 378 Value of number of observations and parametersSig. 0.0000 Statistical significance

Correlations 0.30 ≤ r ≤ 0.76 Moderate to high correlationsDeterminant 0.1799 × 10−8 Valid correlations

4.3. Factor Analysis and Principal Component Method Applied to the Four Dimensionsunder Study

An exploratory factor analysis was performed by the principal components methodwith Varimax rotation for the set of 28 values associated in the literature with typicallyethical behavior for the variables of leadership, teamwork, effective communication andproductivity. The results of this exploratory factor analysis in terms of the Kaiser-MeyerOlkin (KMO) test of adequacy for the values associated with ethics when practicingleadership behavior indicate a favorable degree of adequacy. The indicator is presentedabove the minimum acceptable of 0.500 and reflects a KMO of 0.964. The above statisticis distributed by values that fluctuate between 0 and 1, so values close to 1 indicate thatthe data matrix is appropriate to perform a factorization procedure (López-Aguado andGutiérrez-Provecho 2018).

Regarding calculating the factorial scores, Barlett’s test of sphericity yielded a signifi-cance of p = 0.000 so that prior correlations are estimated, unbiased and unequivocal. Atthe same time, the statistic follows a χ2 distribution with p(p − 1)/2 degrees of freedom.As long as high χ2 values are associated with significant values, it can be affirmed thatthe sample values are correlated and are optimal to perform the factorial test. It was alsocorroborated in the same analysis by determining the correlation levels in the data matrixwhere the crossover values indicated significant correlations at a moderate to a high level(p < 0.05, p = 0.000). At the same time, the determinant was presented at 0.1799 × 10−8.The above results are concentrated in the following table (see Table 5. Preliminary factorialresults of ethical values in leadership).


The underlying common factor of the items given from the shared variance of eachvalue concerning the rest of the ethical values was manifested in the weight scores ofthe factor loadings, which were based on the matrix of original correlations and multiplecorrelations. All were presented above the minimum acceptable of 0.500, so their valueswere between 0.533 and 0.781.

On the other hand, the principal component analysis showed four dimensions associ-ated with ethical values related to leadership behavior. The estimation of these dimensionsfulfilled four conditions for the determination of factors in that the minimum subjectivepercentage of variance is found to be 65.092 per cent; the eigenvalue criterion was moresignificant than 1; the sedimentation graph made a cut-off point in four factors; and theproportion explained of each factor was found to be 100/p, that is, above 3.57 in termsof the percentage of variance. The above data are illustrated in the following table (seeTable 6. Factor extraction of ethical values in leadership).

Table 6. Factor extraction of ethical values in leadership.

Initial Eigenvalues Sums of Charges from Extraction Sums of Loads of the Rotation

Comp. Total % deVariance

%Cumulative Total % de

Variance%

Cumulative Total % deVariance

%Cumulative

1 14.269 50.960 50.960 14.269 50.960 50.960 7.706 27.522 27.5222 1.683 6.009 56.969 1.683 6.009 56.969 5.513 19.689 47.2113 1.176 4.198 61.167 1.176 4.198 61.167 2.535 9.052 56.2634 1.099 3.925 65.092 1.099 3.925 65.092 2.472 8.830 65.092

Finally, this same analysis illustrates the composition of the factors that are part of thevalues related to leadership. The first resulting factor comprises responsibility, decision-making, compliance, respect, honesty, perseverance, integrity, vision, communication,knowledge, self-discipline, fairness, enthusiasm, the spirit of service, and courage. Itexplains 27 per cent of the variance of the model. The second resulting factor is generosity,appreciation, love, kindness, compassion, friendship, humility, and understanding. Thethird factor is composed of tolerance and patience. The fourth factor is composed ofcreativity, good humor and self-motivation. Likewise, the level of reliability of thesemeasurements is detailed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, which in all the factors isabove the minimum acceptable (see Table 7. Composition of factors of the ethical valuespresent in leadership).

Table 7. Composition of factors of the ethical values present in leadership.

Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4

Responsibility 0.7575Decision making 0.7438

Compliance/Diligence 0.73Respect 0.707Honesty 0.7016

Perseverance/Hardworking 0.7Integrity 0.7

Vision/Objectivity 0.6768Communication 0.6497

Knowledge/Learning 0.6363Self-discipline/Temperance 0.5993

Equity/Justice 0.5857Enthusiasm 0.5697


Table 7. Cont.

Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3 Factor 4

Spirit of service 0.5356Courage 0.5041

Generosity 0.7565Appreciation/Gratitude 0.6846

Love 0.6798Kindness/Attention 0.6778

Compassion/Forgiveness 0.6399Friendship/Union 0.5832

Humility 0.5703Compression 0.5199

Tolerance 0.8187Patience 0.7559

Creativity 0.6459Good mood 0.621

Self-motivation 0.5003Explained variance in %. 27.522 19.689 9.052 8.83

Cronbach’s Alpha 0.951 0.892 0.776 0.744

As a second test, an exploratory factor analysis by principal components and Varimaxrotation was carried out for the set of these 28 values while teamwork is performed. Theresults of this analysis in terms of KMO indicate a favorable degree of sampling adequacyas KMO was located at 0.975. Likewise, the Barlett’s test of sphericity was significant asp = 0.000 and follows a distribution that indicates that the matrix is identity [χ2 distributionwith p(p − 1)/2 degrees of freedom], which indicates prior correlations between thevariables that were then checked with the correlation matrix and the determinant levelof the same (0.962 × 10−12), as presented in the following table (see Table 8. Preliminaryfactorial results of the ethical values in teamwork).

Table 8. Preliminary factorial results of the ethical values in teamwork.


KMO 0.975 Sampling adequacyχ2 10,924.94 Rejection of H0, correlation testGl. 378 Value of number of observations and parametersSig. 0 Statistical significance


The proportion of variance explained by the common factors of the variable for thistest indicates that they share favorable levels of common variance as they were presentedwith values between 0.536 and 0.788. In addition, two factors were found to meet theminimum subjective percentage of variance (located at 67.5 per cent); eigenvalue criteriongreater than 1; the sedimentation plot with a cut-off point in two factors; and the proportionexplained of each factor 100/p above 3.57 percentage of variance. These results are set outin the following table (see Table 9. Extraction of factors of ethical values in teamwork).

Table 9. Extraction of factors of ethical values in teamwork.




Variance%


%Cumulative

1 17.119 61.140 61.140 17.119 61.140 61.140 10.321 36.859 36.8592 1.781 6.360 67.500 1.781 6.360 67.500 8.579 30.641 67.500


For this second analysis, we illustrate the composition of the factors that make up theethical values related to teamwork, where the first is composed of compliance, knowledge,decision-making, responsibility, perseverance, vision, communication, self-discipline, hon-esty, self-motivation, integrity, enthusiasm, fairness, respect and creativity. The second iscomposed of compassion, love, kindness, generosity, humility, appreciation, friendship,tolerance, good humor, courage, understanding, patience, and a spirit of service.

Additionally, the level of reliability of the measurements is detailed by Cronbach’salpha value, which suggests that all values are consistent and reliable (see Table 10. Com-position of factors of the ethical values present in teamwork).

Table 10. Composition of factors of the ethical values present in teamwork.

Factor 1 Upload Factor 2 Upload

Compliance/Diligence 0.8361 Compassion/Forgiveness 0.8272Knowledge/Learning 0.8285 Love 0.7975

Decision making 0.819 Kindness/Attention 0.7689Responsibility 0.8088 Generosity 0.7375

Perseverance/Hardworking 0.8065 Humility 0.6783Vision/Objectivity 0.7753 Appreciation/Gratitude 0.665

Communication 0.7735 Friendship/Union 0.6586Self-discipline/Temperance 0.7376 Tolerance 0.6524

Honesty 0.7195 Good mood 0.6517Self-motivation 0.7168 Courage 0.6141

Integrity 0.6653 Understanding 0.6105Enthusiasm 0.6508 Patience 0.5887

Equity/Justice 0.6141 Spirit of service 0.5534Respect 0.6129

Creativity 0.5794Explained variance in %. 36.859 Explained variance in %. 30.641

Cronbach’s Alpha 0.968 Cronbach’s Alpha 0.947

The third test of exploratory factor analysis by principal components and Varimaxrotation was used to determine the factor composition of ethical values associated with aneffective communication process. The 28 values appreciated in the ethical behaviors werere-evaluated. In this sense, a KMO of 0.975 was presented, which assumes the existence ofsample adequacy and the existence of previous correlations in the variables by Barlett’stest of sphericity whose significance was 0.000 and adequate for the χ2 levels; likewise, thecorrelations were presented at a moderate to a high level with a determinant close to 0 of0.962 × 10−13. The values are presented in the following table (see Table 11. Preliminaryfactorial results of ethical values ineffective communication).

Table 11. Preliminary factorial results of ethical values ineffective communication.




As in the previous analyses, the proportion of variance explained by the commonfactors of the variable for this test was presented at optimal levels, that is, more significantthan 0.500, since they were located at levels between 0.650 and 0.770, so that the ethicalvalues associated with effective communication share favorable levels of shared variance.

Additionally, three factors were extracted that followed the same criteria mentionedin the previous tests: the minimum subjective percentage of variance explained was 71.52


per cent; eigenvalue criteria greater than 1; cut-point sedimentation plot on three factors;and proportion explained of each factor at 100/p above 3.57. The results are shared below(see Table 12. Extraction of factors of ethical values ineffective communication).

Table 12. Extraction of factors of ethical values ineffective communication.




Variance%


%Cumulative

1 17.402 62.149 62.149 17.402 62.149 62.149 7.543 26.941 26.9412 1.504 5.370 67.519 1.504 5.370 67.519 6.390 22.821 49.7623 1.122 4.006 71.525 1.122 4.006 71.525 6.094 21.764 71.525

The factors associated with ethical values during effective communication were three.The first is composed of communication, decision making, perseverance, responsibil-ity, knowledge, self-motivation, enthusiasm, self-discipline, creativity, compliance, andcourage. The second comprises patience, tolerance, honesty, respect, integrity, humility,vision, fairness and understanding. The third is made up of love, generosity, compassion,appreciation, friendship, good humor, kindness and spirit of service. It is also importantto note that the reliability, measured by Cronbach’s alpha for each factor, presents opti-mal levels (see Table 13. The composition of factors of ethical values presents ineffectivecommunication).

Table 13. The composition of factors of ethical values presents ineffective communication.

Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3

Communication 0.748Decision making 0.7347

Perseverance/Hardworking 0.7112Responsibility 0.7075

Knowledge/Learning 0.7056Self-motivation 0.6902

Enthusiasm 0.6791Self-discipline/Temperance 0.6739

Creativity 0.6551Compliance/Diligence 0.6338

Courage 0.5516Patience 0.7704

Tolerance 0.6961Honesty 0.6866Respect 0.6633Integrity 0.6272Humility 0.6133

Vision/Objectivity 0.5999Equity/Justice 0.5829Understanding 0.5455

Love 0.7911Generosity 0.735

Compassion/Forgiveness 0.7288Appreciation/Gratitude 0.7226

Friendship/Union 0.7062Good mood 0.675

Kindness/Attention 0.6572Spirit of service 0.5317

Explained variance in %. 26.941 22.821 21.764Cronbach’s Alpha 0.954 0.942 0.934


The last exploratory factor analysis by principal components and Varimax rotationwas carried out to determine the composition of ethical factors associated by individualsto productivity, so the 28 ethical values mentioned above were evaluated. The resultssuggest the existence of sample adequacy as KMO is very close to 1, with a value of0.976; in addition, Barlett’s test of sphericity showed a significance of p = 0.000, so it isassumed that the matrix is identity and that there are previous correlations between thedimensions. These correlations were verified in their respective matrix, which places thembetween moderate and high with an adequate determinant level of 1.13 × 10−13. Thesevalues are presented below (see Table 14. Preliminary factorial results of ethical values inproductivity).

Table 14. Preliminary factorial results of ethical values in productivity.



Correlations 0.31 ≤ r ≥ 0.80 Moderate to high correlationsDeterminant 1.13 × 10−13 Valid correlations

Additionally, the proportion of variance explained by the common factors of thevariable was analyzed in this test. It was deduced that the same share adequate levelsof common variance as they are presented with values between 0.585 and 0.786; thefactors extracted in the analysis were two, which explained 36.30 and 34.72 per cent ofthe variance the model, respectively. For the identification of these factors, the sametesting procedures indicated in the previous tests were followed: the minimum subjectivepercentage of variance (70.93 per cent); eigenvalue criteria greater than 1; two-factor cutoff point sedimentation plot and proportion of variance explained by each relevant factorin 100/p above 3.57 points. The results are presented in the following table (see Table 15.Factor Extraction of Ethical Values on Productivity).

Table 15. Factor Extraction of Ethical Values on Productivity.




Variance%


%Cumulative

1 17.796 63.558 63.558 17.796 63.558 63.558 10.138 36.206 36.2062 2.065 7.373 70.931 2.065 7.373 70.931 9.723 34.725 70.931

Finally, the two factors found in the extraction were divided. The first comprisedthe ethical values of perseverance, compliance, responsibility, knowledge, self-discipline,communication, vision, decision-making, self-motivation, creativity, honesty, respect, en-thusiasm, and integrity. The second was composed of the ethical values of love, generosity,compassion, kindness, friendship, appreciation, humility, good humor, courage, tolerance,fairness, understanding, patience, and spirit of service. The resulting reliability of thistest was also analyzed using Cronbach’s alpha test. It was found to be at adequate levelsconcerning the measurement model (see Table 16. Factor composition of the ethical valuespresent in productivity).


Table 16. Factor composition of the ethical values present in productivity.

Factor 1 Upload Factor 2 Upload

Perseverance/Hardworking 0.8462 Love 0.8237

Compliance/Diligence 0.8363 Generosity 0.8208

Responsibility 0.8308 Compassion/Forgiveness 0.8207

Knowledge/Learning 0.8191 Kindness/Attention 0.8137

Self-discipline/Temperance 0.8106 Friendship/Union 0.786

Communication 0.7784 Appreciation/Gratitude 0.7695

Vision/Objectivity 0.7535 Humility 0.7622

Decision making 0.7435 Good mood 0.7069

Self-motivation 0.7166 Courage 0.64

Creativity 0.6726 Tolerance 0.639

Honesty 0.6298 Equity/Justice 0.6324

Respect 0.6249 Understanding 0.6036

Enthusiasm 0.6017 Patience 0.5989

Integrity 0.5852 Spirit of service 0.5748

Explained variance in %. 36.206 Explained variance in %. 34.725

Cronbach’s Alpha 0.967 Cronbach’s Alpha 0.962

It is essential to point out that having obtained and analyzed these empirical resultsthrough the perception of the sample is a step of great relevance that helps university grad-uates, entrepreneurs, employees, both public and private, teachers and students. Takingadvantage of the acquired knowledge becomes a competitive advantage to emerge with dif-ferent indicators for better results in study, leadership, teamwork, effective communicationand productivity.

With all this information and the analysis of the same, it was possible to obtain andpresent conclusions that are considered of great importance and application both at aprofessional and business level and to proceed in new research as part of the methodologyor as support for different studies.

5. Discussion and Conclusions

Reflecting on the role of ethics in the assumption of various roles in society is im-perative because it is closely linked to the conduct of human beings while assuming anyrole in society. It is impossible to build an equitable and just society or to perform anorganizational function if the practice of ethical values is omitted. In this sense and basedon the analysis of the literature, as well as mentions of a qualitative nature, a set of valueswere identified that could be classified into four major categories such as the values ofsocial conduct, those of growth and improvement, those of personal talent and thoseinternal and spiritual, each associated with seven values that could be present when anindividual performs in leadership roles, in functions of effective communication, teamworkand productivity.

What is more, ethics, leadership, teamwork, effective communication, productivity,and performance, should all be closely analyzed these days focusing on their relevance con-cerning the business environment (Popescu 2019), and, also, the opportunities that they arecapable to bring in order to ensure business performance and business excellence (Popescuand Bant,a 2019; Popescu and Duhácek-Šebestová 2022; Popescu and Kyriakopoulos 2022).Hence, Popescu and Bant,a (2019) noted in their article on “Performance evaluation of theimplementation of the 2013/34/EU Directive in Romania on the basis of corporate socialresponsibility reports” the fact that ethics and integrity are pivotal elements in today’s soci-


ety, emphasizing in their findings “the strong connections that exist between key concepts,such as: corporate social responsibility, intellectual capital, environmental protection, sus-tainability, ethics and integrity in today’s contemporary society” (Popescu and Bant,a 2019).In a similar manner, Popescu (2019) demonstrated in “Corporate social responsibility,corporate governance and business performance: limits and challenges imposed by theimplementation of Directive 2013/34/EU in Romania” the fact that there is an undeniable“( . . . ) need to enhance corporate governance and corporate social responsibility in orderto create an appropriate balance between sustainability, competitiveness, productivity,and businesses’ financial and non-financial performance, while taking into considerationthe benefits brought by the tangible value of businesses (such as, cash flow and earn-ings) as well as the intangible value of businesses (such as, brand, customer experience,intellectual capital, organizational culture and reputation)” (Popescu 2019). Also, in or-der to understand better the role and the importance of ethics, leadership, teamwork,effective communication, productivity, and performance in today’s context, the followingaspects ought to be taken into consideration: “( . . . ) in the new “modern” global econ-omy, environmental protection plays an important role in the daily lives of individuals,managers, professionals, organizations, societies, countries, country leaders, politiciansand governments, since its main focuses concern, on the one hand, the conservation of theplanet’s natural resources as well as existing and endangered habitat, and, on the otherhand, the reparation and restoration of the already degraded, damaged and altered naturalsurroundings” (Popescu 2019).

In addition, when analyzing the undeniable bonds that exist between ethics, leader-ship, teamwork, effective communication, productivity, and performance, reputed special-ists worldwide have taken note of the significance and the implications derived from theseoutstanding relationships. Thus, they have remarked the major differences between theold business and the new business typology, shifting their focus, in turn, to the potentialoffered by the new leadership and the new business to dominant issues, such as: businessperformance generated by the inputs provided by intangible assets (and, more specifically,human resources and intellectual capital); competition and competitive advantage, interms of possessing more adequate and timely resources (such as, unlimited resourcesrepresented by human resources and intellectual capital); leadership development, newleadership management, new leaders, and new leadership; trust, and trustworthiness inbusiness based on strong ethics, and the new leadership values (Carroll 1979; Epstein 1989;Davis et al. 2000; Kane et al. 2009; Nye 2010; Kane and Patapan 2012; Green 2012; Rathbun2012; Raelin 2014; Meiers 2015; Popescu and Popescu 2019a, 2019b).

Based on the results of the studies published by prominent specialists in the field, itshould be pointed out that understanding and analyzing leadership has raised numerousproblems over time, due to the complex nature of this concept and, also, due to thepowerful implications derived from its application in different contexts and environments(Haslam et al. 2010; Grint et al. 2016).

Multiple authors have noted the importance and the role of leadership and haveremarked entities’ constant struggle in addressing these days’ challenges derived from theoften encountered “crisis of leadership” in key domains, such as: economic (Cronin andGenovese 2012; Dinan 2016; Helms 2017), environmental (Borzel 2000), social (Kellerman2008; Helms 2015) and political (Dimitrakopoulos 2008; Brown 2014; Elgie 2015; Goetz2017; Müller and Van Esch 2019).

What is more, recent studies have constantly emphasized the utmost necessity to corre-late ethics, leadership, teamwork, effective communication, productivity, and performancein today’s deeply challenged business environment with CSR and RBC, thus demonstratingthe importance of working towards an “ethical culture”, addressing “ethical leadership”and guiding the decisions of the organizations worldwide in the spirit of harmoniouslypreserving and revitalizing “the intellectual capital facets” represented by both humancapital and social capital of the entities (Boynton 2006; Berrone et al. 2007; Biong et al. 2010;Su 2014; Ullah et al. 2019).


Hence, especially these days, when humanity is confronting itself with the unavoid-able challenges and the imminent changes derived from the COVID-19 pandemic and theunprecedented and foreseeable implications of the COVID-19 crisis, the decision-makingprocesses of each and every organization at a global level should target key values in termsof ethics, leadership, team-work, effective communication and productivity, in the spirit ofsupporting performance and sustainable forms of behavior in organizations (Boynton 2006;Popescu 2020a, 2020b, 2020c, 2020d; Galván-Vela et al. 2021). In the light of recent discov-eries, these key values might refer to but may not be limited to the following dominantsuggested attributes: “effective governance”; great concern towards clients, communities,biodiversity, ecosystems, environment, people; respect for nature, individuals and all formsof life; persuasiveness, constructive, and systematical actions conducting to sustainabledevelopment and growth; trustworthiness (Davenport and Prusak 1998; Boynton 2006;Cots 2011; Popescu 2020a, 2020b, 2020c, 2020d; Galván-Vela et al. 2021).

Nowadays, especially when facing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and thechallenges of the COVID-19 crisis, global performance is undeniably related to the powerfulrelationship that exists between ethics, leadership, teamwork, effective communication,productivity, performance (González et al. 2022; Luque 2020, 2021; Popescu 2021a, 2021b,2021c; Sánchez-Figuera et al. 2021). In addition, based on recent findings, the links thatexist between ethics, leadership, teamwork, effective communication, productivity, per-formance are enabling our society to become more aware of the benefits of sustainabilityand sustainable development, in the attempt to find the viable solutions to accomplish thehighly important and vital Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at a worldwide level(Nicha Andrade 2021a, 2021b, 2022; Duhácek Šebestová et al. 2021). In this matter, Luqueet al. 2021 mentions in the highly valuable study on “How sustainability is defined: an anal-ysis of 100 theoretical approximations”, the fact that although “sustainability processes areimperfect, ( . . . ) there is a need to analyze their construction, evolution and deployment”,illustrating that there are seven dimensions specific to this notion, as follows: “economic,social, environmental, legal, political, ethical and cultural”—thus, positioning the focuson ethics and its valuable contribution towards other key domains, namely, the economic,social, environmental, legal, political, and cultural ones (Luque González et al. 2021). Theimportance of ethics and ethical principals in today’s business environment is highlypraised especially since researchers have displayed a great concern towards the followingkey issues: (a) implementing more responsible practices in business all over the world,capable to address responsible corporate reporting, corporate responsibility practices, goodforms of control and evaluation, and corporate governance; (b) targeting more respon-sible accounting practices; (c) seeking better centered business counseling, capable toaddress targeted problems specific to valuating in a better and more coherent manner theorganizations intangible assets, such as, human resource, intellectual capital, intellectualproperty in order to generate long-term creativity and innovation; (d) focusing on a morecompetitive and complex business environment, capable to show a deeper preoccupationtowards improving the entities financial analysis instruments and methods, in order tocope with the new rules and regulations on green finance, total quality management,risk management in the pandemic context; (e) fostering better balanced business processmanagement, able to respond to the new context specific to sustainability, sustainabilityassessment, sustainable development, sustainable finance, in order to generate businessexcellence, and business performance, and diminish the sustainability risks Tangible assets(Torugsa et al. 2013; Luque González and de Pablos Heredero 2016; García Guerrero et al.2021; Guerrero-Miranda and González 2021; Luque González and Gutiérrez 2020).

All in all, this current work, representing, in essence, a novel approach, centers onethical value under the vision of leadership, team-work, effective communication andproductivity, comes to confirm the findings of other researchers in the field, and, in thesame time, covers new territories and sheds a new light on the implications brought interms of business performance, business and organizational achievements, productive and


harmonious business balance, business sectors growth and sustainable development, andcommunities’ well-being.

Based on the above, the conclusions offer us. As a result, the analysis and relationshipwith the literature focused on ethics and its influence on the dimensions mentioned sometheoretical categorizations as a compendium of the indicators or variables concentratedin Table 2 of this document. The above gave rise to a reflection on the linkage of ethicsin aspects of the performance of university graduates in their different roles within thecompany in which they work, so a questionnaire was adapted that had been proposedtheoretically in the taxonomy of Mercader. This questionnaire was applied to a sampleof 410 university graduates and preceded to its validation using a reliability analysis,such as the Cronbach’s alpha test, and the validation of the constructs using exploratoryfactor analysis.

The results of this last analysis suggest good sample adequacy for the values asso-ciated with ethics when behaving under a leadership behavior, effective communication,teamwork and productivity. Hence the validation of the instrument was applied with the28 ethical values used. It is essential to point out that there are moderate to high correla-tions. It can be affirmed that the sample values are correlated and optimal when carryingout the factorial test in the four dimensions of study, besides confirming that the reliabilitymeasured from Cronbach’s alpha for each factor analyzed presents optimal levels.

On the other hand, the university graduates, at present, working in the companiesand represented in the sample are primarily of generation Y or millennials; if we takethose between 26 and 35 years of age, they made up 43.90% while only 22.68% wereolder than 40 years, which represents the business reality and the future trends of greaterresponsibility to come of the millennia’s in the dimensions analyzed and in the applicationof ethics in them it has also been found.

As a result, a relationship is demonstrated in the correlations obtained between ethicsand the study dimensions and among themselves. From there, it can be deduced thatthere is a correlation between the tangible and intangible, coexisting ethics as an intangibleaspect, leadership and effective communication as tangible-intangible and teamwork andproductivity that represent the tangible aspect, which implies that, in many different waysand feasible combinations, the knowledge of them tends to create more excellent balanceand well-being to the companies (in this particular aspect it is interpreted as intangiblewhat is conceived more towards the mental-spiritual aspect while the tangible is conceivedmore towards the physical-material and mental aspect).

With the results obtained and supported by the relevant literature review, it can beconfirmed that entrepreneurs, managers and employees, being aware of this concept andfact, could achieve and help a greater productive and harmonious business balance.

While referring to the anticipations of the limitations in the use of the non-probabilistictechnique to select the sample subjects, it should be mentioned that this aspect was intendedto be remedied with the aid of the Harman test, as explained, in-depth, in the methodologysection of this article. In this particular context, it should be noted that the motive forchoosing this form of sampling was the availability of the subjects at the time of sendingthe questionnaires via email. In continuation, it should be pointed out that, in order tocheck the non-existence of common variance bias, due to the type of sampling used and thepsychometric properties of the data, the Harman test was performed (Podsakoff et al. 2003),to verify if the resulting matrix of items was not affected by the bias above, so all items wereincluded in factor analysis and through the principal components method, without rotationand forcing a single factor, the percentage of common variance was obtained. Based on thework of Podsakoff et al. (2003), in those cases in which the single factor extracted exceeds50%, a problem of common variance was encountered; however, in this particular case, byobtaining the value of 43%, it was assumed that the data were not affected by the type ofsampling, thus proving to be highly relevant for the chosen purpose of this research.

The research findings and results have shown that the research objective of the presentresearch has been successfully obtained, namely the implication of ethics in the dimensions


of leadership, teamwork, effective communication and productivity was carefully andin-depth described and, also, the validity and reliability in the measurement of the differentethical values manifested in the four dimensions mentioned was to be determined. Incontinuation, also based on our findings and results, the correlations and dimensionsassociated with ethical values when these behaviors and acts were presented according touniversity graduates. The approach encountered in this study is a novel one, due to thefact that the absence of research that relates ethics to these four elements simultaneously—namely the dimensions of leadership, teamwork, effective communication and productivity,has noticed. What is more, the information displayed in this work proves to be essentialwhen it comes to acknowledging and understanding how these particular dimensionsinfluence the organizational level. Based on the additional validation tests performed—namely, a reliability and validity analysis of the measurement instrument, the Harman test,it has been demonstrated that the sample chosen for analysis, that included 410 universitygraduates from Baja California, Mexico—an industrial nucleus of great relevance, borderingCalifornia in the United States of America, proved to be of high relevance both for theobjectives of this research and for this study itself. This, it ought to be pointed out that thedata obtained using a questionnaire proved to be of great value to this current research,especially in the context in which a reliability and validity analysis of the measurementinstrument was carried out in terms of the ethical values associated with the dimensionsmentioned using the exploratory factor analysis by the principal components method.In continuation, it should be stressed that also the use of qualitative items proved to benecessary, since the results obtained were also carefully and thoroughly analyzed usingthe constant comparison method. All in all, it should be emphasized that, on the onehand, the findings obtained in this research are meant to provide a greater perspective andpractical knowledge and support of usefulness and practical reality to business people andemployees, leaders and university graduates; and, also, on the other hand, the results maybe extended to students, teachers, and people, in general, in order to be better preparedto give and apply solutions with their consequent ethical and productive achievementsdesired by all.

The present research is subject to limitations in different aspects. Hence new possi-bilities for future research are presented, among which stand out, in the first place, thatthe study instrument had not been empirically tested in other research, so its validationin the present one corresponded only to business sectors in Baja California, mainly inthe city of Tijuana; also, the sample of this study was chosen in a non-probabilistic way,which may result in a margin of error more significant than the estimated in the data. Bothconditions suggest that the results cannot be extrapolated to other areas. It is suggestedthat the instrument be validated in other sectors and territories.

Secondly, the instrument was not developed to find causal relationships betweenthe variables of the study but to measure the presence of specific ethical values in thedifferent roles (leadership, teamwork, effective communication and productivity), so thatone possibility for future analysis is to try to estimate a causal relationship between thecentral ethical values and each of these behaviors.

Thirdly, the amalgam of ethical values is vast, and its statistical interpretation may belimited in the sense that the latent variables are composed of observable indicators or itemsthat allow their precise measurement. We suggest the development of an instrument tomeasure the degree of presence or absence of ethical values at work, based on observabledimensions that guarantee their precise measurement, or the search for alternative ways,such as the use of qualitative analysis techniques such as the case study or the GroundedTheory, which can give a notion of a more nourished and more profound interpretation ofethics in the company.

There is a necessity to approach the limitations of the study, as follows: (a) theinstruments and methods should be applied in other regions and countries due to thefact that, currently, the application of the instruments and methods belonging to thisempirical research were conducted in a specific region, namely in Baja California, Mexico,


which is, also, an important industrial state; and (b) the instruments and methods couldbe applied in specific or homogeneous groups of professionals, groups of organizationsand/or corporations and could be applied with different variables.

Author Contributions: All authors have equally contributed to the manuscript. All authors haveread and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding: This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Appendix A

This appendix contains the structure of the questionnaire used in this research, focus-ing on key concepts, such as, “ethics”, “leadership”, “teamwork”, “effective communica-tion”, and “productivity”, as follows in the lines below:

EthicsIs ethics necessary for business?Is ethics necessary for the family?Is ethics necessary for society?Is ethics necessary for the public education sector?Is ethics necessary for the private education sector?Is ethics necessary for government?Is ethics necessary for citizenship?LeadershipHow does the respect variable influence the leadership of professionals?How does the variable self-motivation influence the leadership of professionals?How does the variable courage influence the leadership of professionals?How does the variable patience influence the leadership of professionals?How does the variable honesty influence the leadership of professionals?How does the communication variable influence the leadership of professionals?How does the variable enthusiasm influence the leadership of professionals?How does the variable tolerance influence the leadership of professionals?How does the variable responsibility influence the leadership of professionals?How does the decision-making variable influence the leadership of professionals?How does the spirit of service variable influence the leadership of professionals?How does the variable humility influence the leadership of professionals?How do the variables equity/justice influence the leadership of professionals?How do the variables vision/objectivity influence the leadership of professionals?How does the variable perseverance influence the leadership of professionals?How do the variables appreciation/gratitude influence the leadership of professionals?How do the variables kindness/attention influence the leadership of professionals?How do the variables knowledge/learning influence the leadership of professionals?How does the variable generosity influence the leadership of professionals?How does the variable understand influence the leadership of professionals?How do the variables friendship/unity influence the leadership of practitioners?How do the variables compliance/diligence influence the leadership of professionals?How does the creativity variable influence the leadership of professionals?How do the variables compassion/forgiveness influence the leadership of professionals?How do the variables self-discipline/temperance influence the leadership of professionals?How does the variable good humour influence the leadership of professionals?How does the variable love influence the leadership of professionals?TeamworkHow does the teamwork variable influence professionals’ ethics?


Effective communicationHow does the effective communication variable influence the ethics of professionals?ProductivityHow does the productivity variable influence the ethics of professionals?

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